I’ve built all my own desktops for the last six years. It’s relatively straightforward, and at the riskof sounding heretical, Microsoft XP does a good job of recognizing most hardware setups.
Part of the joy of building your own machine is the ability to pick every. single. component. You can (de)emphasize whatever you want, and change it out later with something better. I’ve always gone for really fast CPUs, and skimped on video cards, since I run number-crunching software and don’t do any gaming.
My favorite do-it-yourself site has to be www.ArsTechnica.com. Check our their Buyer’s Guide, which specifies exact products for entry-level, mid-range, and “God Box” machines. I’ve built several, and wouldn’t think of making a purchase without checking them first.
Another 2 cents from someone who always builds his personal computers. I build my own because I want a high-end system with top of the line components. It is definitely cheaper to build your own high-end system. I ran through the Dell software where you pick the components you want and they wanted 3K for what I built for just under 2K. Like everyone has said, if you want to spend $500 or under, get a commercially built system. It’s like collecting art, do it because you love it, not for the money.
There are tons of websites that tell you how to build a computer. Read several and hang out for a while at places like Tom’s Hardware Guide (tomshardware.com) and read the motherboard and processor articles so you understand compatibilty issues. If you’re going to build your own system, then take the time to actually understand the issues involved and it will be less scary and more fun and you will be better prepared for problems if they occur.
All that having been said, I personally believe that hardware is way easier to master than software. If you think you might have the ability to do it, then you do. Just don’t confuse potential with knowledge. You definitely need some knowledge but that knowledge is freely available and not very difficult to understand if you put a little effort into it.
Floppy drive… what’s that? I stopped putting them in my personal systems quite a while ago. I put them in the systems I build for others just to keep them happy.
Don’t skimp on RAM. Save money on the processor if needed to free up money for more RAM. Like I said, I like high end systems and I do a lot of work with video editing and rendering so I have a gig of RAM and consider it essential. YMMV.
I’m wondering, how upgradeable are the low-end Dell systems? Suppose I buy a low-end Dell and later, when I have the money, want to put in a new motherboard…will I have to get a new one from Dell, or will I have a range of options? Are their cases pretty generic or do they have weird curves and such that would prevent me from putting generic parts in there? Are Dell power supplies compatible with most motherboards, etc.?
How upgradeable are the low-end Dell systems?
Well, the video card will upgrade just fine.
The drives, likewise.
The two weird parts in my Dell OptiPlex at home are… the motherboard and the power supply. Dell uses proprietary power supplies and boards in an attempt to force you to buy their power supplies and motherboards.
This last line in fact has me leaning towards never buying from Dell again. I would not have bought my PC if I had known they had started that foolishness.
My first computer (that I paid for myself) was a Dell Dimension 4300. My experience is the same as yours. The video card, memory, and drives could be upgraded just fine. The motherboard can’t. I really don’t think that this as big a deal as you do, however. By the time you want to upgrade your processor, chances are you’ll have to replace the motherboard anyway. When this happened to me, I went ahead and spent an extra $150 on a cool case w/ power supply, and scavenged the drives, video card, monitor, etc from the Dell. (Except for the Zip Drive. Anyone who bought one of those a few years ago will understand why I left that in the old computer )
And say what you will about Microsoft, but Windows XP makes upgrading a snap. Every time I’ve upgraded, XP saw the new hardware and configured it automatically with little or no interaction from me. If they could just make Internet Explorer a bit more stable…
From my experience at Gateway as a TSP (phone tech guy)
All of Gateway’s desktop computers were completely upgradeable. Gateway chose to use commercially available parts (nothing proprietary). I can’t imagine any manufacture using a non ATX case, and proprietary parts would be weird…why pay to make your own parts when you can just buy them? In any case for Gateways it means that you can put any parts in the system you want. I have an old Gateway (first P4 1.4 that came out) and the only original part left is the case…
What you’re going to run into with a $499 is a lack of room for expansion. The case is not going to be a full size tower, so there is less physical space for additional components. The motherboard is likely to be an older/slower one…its hard to slap that new P4 in a socket 478 system. There may only be two slots for RAM when higher quality MBDs have 3 or 4 slots. The graphics will likely be built into the MBD and be of lower quality. The system may not have an AGP slot, which kills any expandability in that area. Larger MBDs have 5 or 6 PCI slots for expansion, and controllers for multiple drives. Less expensive MBSs only have 2 or 3, and only the two drive controllers. The other consideration is that the system will also likely have all the usual add-ons (sound, modem, network) built into the MBD…not necessarily a bad thing, but if one fails you have to put in a card (which you won’t have space for) or replace the MBD.
There isn’t anything wrong with $499 computers, just be aware of what you’re getting.
I am like you, in that I feel the solution for an obsolete motherboard/CPU is to get a new computer and sell the old one.
My problem with Dell’s practice as regards their “DellATX” power supply is one of ethics and repair pricing, not about upgrades.
Point 1: I think if you intentionally make your computers proprietary, you’re being a jerk. Especially if you surreptitiously start doing it after about a decade of NOT doing it, and really don’t tell people.
Point 2: If I have to replace my power supply, rather than costing me the $35 it should, I’ll be paying closer to $75, because there are only a handful of suppliers for this part… instead of the dozens there would be if it was a REGULAR ATX power supply.
Point 3: What will that motherboard cost to replace? I saw Compaq try to charge $400 for a motherboard one time. I don’t like abnormal prices for service spare parts.
Most frequently killed PC parts, in approximate order:
Hard Drive
Power Supply
RAM
Here in Spain there is a chain of PC stores where you can get all the parts (you can also bring in some of your own if you want), get into a cubicle and start putting the thing together. They charge you for “assistance” like checking your whole list of parts to make sure you don’t have any incompatible parts and you do have anything you need, but not for asking one or two questions.
I built my own computer there 5 years ago and the thing worked very well for all 3 years I had it (I moved out of the country two years ago and gave it to a Comp Eng student to cannibalize). I am not officially knowledgeable about computers or anything, but it wasn’t very hard to figure out what kind of parts I needed and which numbers had to “match”. The only problem I had was that I wasn’t pushing hard enough when placing the RAM cards in, I was afraid to break them. Once I was told to “just push it until it goes clack”, it went smoothly.
I understand that you never ever ever oughta mix two different kinds of RAM cards, which all my CompEng friends swear by, but other than that… it’s just a sort of complicated, fun puzzle to me.
If your number crunching involves a lot of vector processing, you may want to reconsider that. I’ve only ever built one computer, and have no desire to repeat the process, but some of my colleagues put top-end video cards in their boxes and use them as vector processing units. Gaming isn’t even a consideration, since these are all Linux, and many of them don’t even have a keyboard or monitor.
My computer has always been primarily an entertainment device, so I upgraded the sound card fairly early, and upgraded the video card when it became too old to play the latest games. My current cards are a Radeon 9600 and a Sound Blaster Live. Actually, I might not need either of these. My new motherboard has a built-in graphics driver, sound driver, and network connection. I decided to keep using the old cards, but I’m using the motherboard’s network connection, since I know good and well that those things are stock technology that hasn’t changed a bit in years.
Well, the problem with “upgrading your motherboard” is that you’ll often run into problems with the chipset - the chips that control the functions and features on a motherboard. Some chipsets require one form of RAM (like RAMBUS) while other chipsets require another (DDR RAM). You’ll often run into a case where Intel or AMD will change the pinouts, that is, the pin configuration on the bottom of the processor. So your older CPU might have too many (or too few) pins to fit into the CPU slot on the new motherboard.
In doing tech support, I’ve come across so many people that have no idea about how it works and want to try to cram the latest, greatest P4 proc into their P3 motherboards and don’t understand that upgrading from a P3 to a P4 not only means a new processor, it also means a new motherboard and new RAM.
This is not to say that motherboard upgrades can’t be done. It’s just that by the time you want to get around to it, you might as well buy a new computer anyway. Usually.
I built my own before Christmas. I don’t consider myself to knowledgable in computer stuff, but it wasn’t too difficult. It went well and booted up as it was supposed when it was supposed to.
If you are thinking of doing it, then I recommend you get a PCGamer magazine that’s out now. It’s a special issue that’s titled “The PC Building Bible”, and on it there’s a note to retailer’s to keep it on the stands until March 05, so it should still be out.
I used that as my primary guide, and it also has a lot of useful information about the parts involved. The explanations weren’t too technical, yet gave a good general idea of what each does and what some of the common terms are.
With that, find another guide on the net, plus the ones that come with the parts. I prefer to get multiple sources then compare, from that I develop a plan of attack.
As was mentioned the benefits are knowing everything in your system. That includes software. With my old HP, I didn’t know what was essential software that was installed, so right off the bat it wasn’t “clean”. On my new one, I was able to add only what I wanted. Also, having built one, I now have the confidence to physically work in a computer. After building mine, I swapped a bunch of parts around in older PC’s to upgrade them, and I never would have done that before.
Keep looking…I found it on my third try, buried beneath some other magazines. It has a red cover, BTW.
My final parts for my first build arrive later this week. I went with the pre-tested mobo/CPU combo from Monarch and other parts culled from newegg.com and my local Fry’s. If you all see a large smoke cloud rising from Texas on Friday you’ll know that I powered the new system up for the first time!
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